A bus carrying South Korean advance team heads for North Korea as a North Korean flag flutters in the wind at North Korean military guard post, in Goseong, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. A team of South Korean officials has travelled to North Korea to check logistics for joint events ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in the South. (Lee Jong-gun/Yonhap via AP)

A bus carrying South Korean advance team is escorted by South Korean military vehicles as a bus leaves for North Korea in Goseong, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. A team of South Korean officials has travelled to North Korea to check logistics for joint events ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in the South. (Lee Jong-gun/Yonhap via AP)

Banners for the 2018 Pyeogchang Winter Olympics are displayed at the Main Press Center in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. A team of South Korean officials travelled to North Korea on Tuesday to check logistics for joint events ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in the South, as the rivals exchanged rare visits to each other amid signs of warming ties. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A bus carrying South Korean advance team is escorted by South Korean military vehicles as it leaves for North Korea, in Goseong, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. A team of South Korean officials has travelled to North Korea to check logistics for joint events ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in the South. (Lee Jong-gun/Yonhap via AP)

A bus carrying North Korean Hyon Song Wol, the leader of Pyongyang's all-female Moranbong Band, passes at Unification Bridge, which leads to the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, as South Korean soldiers stand by in Paju, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. (Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP)

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, file photo, North Korean Hyon Song Wol, head of North Korea's art troupe, waves as she arrives at the Gangneung Railway Station in Gangneung, South Korea. Hyon, the photogenic leader of Kim Jong Un's hand-picked Moranbong Band, has made two excursions across the Demilitarized Zone as a negotiator and advance team leader working out the details of Kim's surprise offer for the North to participate in the Pyeongchang Games. South Korea's media have been treating her like a true K-pop celebrity. (Kim In-chul/Yonhap via AP, File)

South Korean protesters burn a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rally against a visit of North Korean Hyon Song Wol, head of North Korea's art troupe, in front of Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. "Executed" North Korean pop diva takes Olympic spotlight, but Hyon was met at Seoul railway station by about 150 to 200 activists. The demonstrators later burned Kim's photo, a North Korean flag and a "unification flag" the rival Koreas plan to carry during the opening ceremony. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, center, head of a North Korean art troupe, watches while South Korean protesters stage a rally against her visit in front of Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Dozens of conservative activists attempted to burn a large photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the head of the North's extremely popular girl band passed by them at a Seoul railway station Monday following a visit to potential venues for performances during next month's Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, the leader of Pyongyang's all-female Moranbong Band, leaves after she visited a gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Hyon began a two-day visit on Sunday, triggering media frenzy in South Korea about the woman who is also in charge of the North's first artistic performances in South Korea since 2002. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, center, the leader of Pyongyang's all-female Moranbong Band, waves as she visits the Jangchung Arena in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Hyon began a two-day visit on Sunday, triggering media frenzy in South Korea about the woman who is also in charge of the North's artistic performance during the Olympics. (Korea Pool via AP)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, the leader of Pyongyang's all-female Moranbong Band, leaves after she visited a gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Hyon began a two-day visit on Sunday, triggering media frenzy in South Korea about the woman who is also in charge of the North's first artistic performances in South Korea since 2002. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, center, the leader of Pyongyang's all-female Moranbong Band, leaves after she visited a gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Hyon began a two-day visit on Sunday, triggering media frenzy in South Korea about the woman who is also in charge of the North's first artistic performances in South Korea since 2002. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean protesters burn a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rally against a visit of North Korean Hyon Song Wol, head of a North Korean art troupe, in front of Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Dozens of conservative activists have attempted to burn a large photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the head of the North's hugely popular girl band passed by them at a Seoul railway station. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, center, head of a North Korean art troupe, comes out from Seoul Railway Station after arriving from Gangneung, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Dozens of conservative activists have attempted to burn a large photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the head of the North's hugely popular girl band passed by them at a Seoul railway station. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean Hyon Song Wol, center, head of a North Korean art troupe, comes out from Seoul Railway Station after arriving from Gangneung, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Dozens of conservative activists have attempted to burn a large photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the head of the North's hugely popular girl band passed by them at a Seoul railway station. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean protesters struggle with police officers as police use fire extinguishers during a rally against a visit of North Korean Hyon Song Wol, head of a North Korean art troupe, in front of Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Dozens of conservative activists have attempted to burn a large photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the head of the North's hugely popular girl band passed by them at a Seoul railway station. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

S. Korean advance team goes to North for pre-Olympic events

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

Jan. 23, 2018

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A team of South Korean officials travelled to North Korea on Tuesday to check logistics for joint events ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in the South, as the rivals exchanged rare visits to each other amid signs of warming ties.

The head of the North's popular girl band triggered a media frenzy during her two-day visit to South Korea this week to check potential venues for North Korean artistic performances during the Olympics, and another delegation from the North is coming this week to see accommodation facilities and the Olympic main stadium.

The Koreas are pressing ahead with a flurry of reconciliation efforts after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un abruptly expressed his willingness to send an Olympic delegation. While some see Kim's outreach as a ploy to weaken U.S.-led international pressure and sanctions, Seoul wants better inter-Korean ties and sees improved ties as a path toward talks to help ease the North Korean nuclear standoff.

South Korea's presidential office called for national unity for the success of the first Winter Olympics on South Korean soil and criticized conservatives who have said the government is making too many concessions to North Korea to help it steal the show at the Games.

"We don't understand why they label the Games as the 'Pyongyang Olympics,'" spokesman Park Su-hyun said in a televised statement. "The Pyeongchang Olympics is the Pyeonghwa (peace) Olympics."

Under a deal approved by the International Olympic Committee, the Koreas will field its first unified Olympic team, in women's hockey, and have their athletes parade together under a single flag during the Feb. 9 opening ceremony. The two Koreas also reached their own agreements to hold joint cultural events at the North's Diamond Mountain and have their non-Olympic skiers practice together at the North's Masik ski resort before the Pyeongchang Games.

The South Korean team is to visit those places in North Korea from Tuesday to Thursday.

But in a reminder of their bitter relations, North Korea had a harsh rhetorical response to a protest in Seoul in which South Korean conservatives burned Kim's photo and a North Korean flag when the Moranbong Band leader, Hyon Song Wol, passed by them during her visit Monday.

"They committed unpardonable atrocities ... and defamed the dignity of the supreme leadership," Ri Myong, councilor of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, said in the statement carried by state media.

"If these traitors and psychopaths defaming the dignified Korean nation are allowed to go scot-free, the national reconciliation, unity and the building of a reunified powerful country will be delayed so much," Ri said.